Sweden (medium blue) and the municipalities of the Finland-Swedes (light blue)
After Leah saw that she stopped having more children, Rachel gave her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob to get adoptive children by her, and Dan and Naphtali were born. Leah then did the same as Rachel, and gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, so she could get adoptive children by her. And thus was first Gad and then Asher born: “And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son. And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.” (Genesis 30:12-13)
Asher would thus have much in common with Gad, Dan, and Naphtali.
Asher (Strong’s no. 836) means “happy”. It is from the word “’âshar” (Strong’s no. 833) meaning “to be straight (used in the widest sense, espec. to be level, right, happy); fig. to go forward, be honest, prosper”.
Asher had four sons and one daughter: “And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.” (Genesis 46:17)
The Holy Scriptures do not specify the nationality of the woman who bare Asher these children, but according to the Book of Jasher she was a Semite and an Hebrew called Hadurah. (The Book of Jasher is not a part of the Holy Scriptures, but is referred to twice in the Holy Scriptures, in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18.)
“And Asher went forth and took Adon the daughter of Aphlal, the son of Hadad, the son of Ishmael, for a wife, and he brought her to the land of Canaan. And Adon the wife of Asher died in those days: she had no offspring; and it was after the death of Adon that Asher went to the other side of the river and took for a wife Hadurah the daughter of Abimael, the son of Eber, the son of Shem. And the young woman was of a comely appearance, and a woman of sense, and she had been the wife of Malkiel the son of Elam, the son of Shem. And Hadurah bare a daughter unto Malkiel, and he called her name Serach, and Malkiel died after this, and Hadurah went and remained in her father’s house. And after the death of the wife of Asher he went and took Hadurah for a wife, and brought her to the land of Canaan, and Serach her daughter he also brought with them, and she was three years old, and the damsel was brought up in Jacob’s house. And the damsel was of a comely appearance, and she went in the sanctified ways of the children of Jacob; she lacked nothing, and the Lord gave her wisdom and understanding. And Hadurah the wife of Asher conceived and bare unto him Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi and Beriah; four sons.” (Book of Jasher 45:12-18)
Asher’s daughter mentioned in Genesis 46:17 was thus his adoptive daughter, and not his biological daughter.
Asher’s second wife Hadurah was of the family of Shem through Eber. She was a Semite, because the Semites are the descendants of Shem, and an Hebrew, because the Hebrews are the descendants of Eber (also spelled Heber). Hadurah would therefore be of a high racial quality. The tribe of Asher would therefore have a high racial quality.
The names of Asher’s sons and daughter mean:
Jimnah: “prosperity” (Strong’s no. 3232)
Ishuah: “he will level” (Strong’s no. 3438)
Isui: “level” (Strong’s no. 3440)
Beriah: “in trouble” (Strong’s no. 1283)
Serach: “superfluity” (Strong’s no. 8294)
When the 12 tribes of Israel are mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, Asher is usually mentioned together with the other tribes of the sons of the concubines, Gad, Naphtali, and Dan. Sometimes Asher, Gad, and Naphtali are mentioned together, while Dan is mentioned somewhere else, typically with Joseph and Benjamin. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, the tribe of Asher was under the standard of the camp of Dan, which consisted of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali (Numbers 2:27-28).
In the Holy Scriptures Zilpah is both called Jacob’s wife and his concubine. The Hebrew word which is translated “concubine” in the Authorized King James Version is from the Hebrew word “pîlegesh” (Strong’s no. 6370) meaning “concubine, paramour”.
When the tribes of Israel entered Canaan to possess it, Moses placed six of the tribes of mount Gerizim to bless the entire 12 tribes, and six tribes on mount Ebal to curse the 12 tribes. Asher was one of the six tribes to curse Israel, as were the other tribes of the sons of the concubines.
Since Asher was a tribe of a son of a concubine, and not of a wife in the regular sense, Asher could be expected to have sexual morals not so high as the tribes of the sons of the proper wives.
The flag of Sweden
Danes generally view Sweden as a country with much state control compared to Denmark and Norway, which treasure personal freedom more. The Danish press was shocked when the Swedish parliament in the summer of 2008 granted the secret police so much authority to spy on innocent people as no other secret police in the West has been granted.
This is in fulfillment of Asher being the son of Leah through her handmaid Zilpah. Jacob does not seem to have loved Leah very much. She even said that Jacob hated her (Genesis 29:33). But Leah was Jacob’s LAWFUL wife, because she was the first wife he married and “became one flesh with” (Genesis 2:24). Nations of the House of Leah would therefore tend to have more LAW and be more authoritarian than the nations of the House of Rachel, whom Jacob loved but who was not the first one to become his wife.
The population of Sweden is 8.9 million. The number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in Sweden is uncertain, because the authorities deliberately hide it. But I would estimate it to somewhat more than 22% of the population, or somewhat more than 2 million. (22% of the population was a good estimate when there were 2-3% in Finland, and 7-8% in Denmark and Norway[i]. As of 1 January 2008 the percentage was 9.1% in Denmark[ii].)
Though the Finns live just next to the Swedes and share religion and much culture and history, the Finns are a completely different people. The Finns lived in north Europe before the Nordic and Germanic tribes - who as the lost tribes of Israel came from the Middle East - settled in north Europe. The original Finns were of the East Baltic race. This race makes up a large part of the populations of Finland, Estonia, large parts of Russia, the Baltic countries, and East Europe in general. There is also much East Baltic blood in Scandinavia and East Germany. In a “genetic map of Europe” made by European geneticists in 2008[iii], the Finns are genetic outsiders compared to the other peoples of Europe. The original Finno-Ugric tribes spoke a language which resembles modern Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, and the languages of different tribes around the Ural mountains. The Finno-Ugric languages are completely different from all other European languages.
The original Finns were not fleshly descendants of the tribes of Israel. But despite being ethnic strangers the Finns have joined themselves to the Swedes, Scandinavians, and north-west Europeans religiously and culturally. The Finns are therefore a good example of a non-Israelite people being “grafted into” the family of Israel nations, as the Holy Scriptures provides for in Isaiah 56:1-8 and Romans chap. 11.
Through the course of time the Finns have absorbed so much Swedish blood that a Swedish-Finnish genetic 2008 study shewed that Finns in west Finland genetically are closer to Swedes than to Finns in east Finland.[iv] The Finns in east Finland would be closer to the original Finns.
The unofficial flag of the Finland-Swedes
290,000 persons, or 5.5% of the population of Finland, speak Swedish as their first language. They are called the Finland-Swedes. Swedes have settled along the Finnish coastal areas from ancient times, and Finland was a normal Swedish province called Österland until 1809, when Finland was annexed by Russia. During the years under Swedish dominion, Swedish was the language of the upper-class in Finland. There was also a large part of the common population which spoke Swedish as first language.
The numerical size of Finland’s Swedish minority has remained quite stable through the last centuries, while the proper Finns have multiplied greatly. In 1610 the Swedish minority made up 17.5% of Finland’s population, in 2006 only 5.5%.
The Finland-Swedes, who live on the Åland Islands and along the south and west coast of Finland, have both a Finnish and a Swedish-Finnish identity. Finland is officially a bi-lingual nation (Finnish and Swedish), and on the Åland Islands the only official language is Swedish. There is absolutely no friction between the Finland-Swedes and the proper Finns.
Two famous Finland-Swedes are Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1867-1951), who was President of Finland 1944-1946, and the composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), who composed “Finlandia”.
The Swedish Lutheran Church (Svenska Kyrkan) was the state church of Sweden until the end of 1999, when the Swedish state was divorced from the Svenska Kyrkan. App. 74% of the Swedes are members of Svenska Kyrkan.
This is in contrast to Denmark and Norway, where there today are Lutheran state churches, and where the monarchs are the heads of the church. In this regard, Sweden has more continental traits, while Denmark and Norway have traits of Britain, where the Church of England is the state church of England and Queen Elizabeth II is its head. (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland do not have state churches.)
A group of European geneticists published a “genetic map of Europe” in 2008. This shewed that the Swedes genetically were closest related to north Germans, second-closest related to Danes and Norwegians, and thirdly to Poles and Czechs. The Swedes were genetically very far from the Finns, who are genetic outsiders compared to the other peoples of Europe[v].
The Swedes are genetically closest related to north Germans because Asher and Gad were full brothers. The Swedes are genetically closer related to north Germans than to Danes and Norwegians, because Dan and Naphtali only were Asher’s half-brothers.
Dr. Hans F.K. Günther (1891-1968) - the leading German race scientist who taught at three different universities during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich - wrote that Sweden is “the relatively purest Nordic land of all”, and estimated that more than 80% of Sweden’s blood was of the Nordic race. There was a strain of the East Baltic race all over Sweden, and an evident admixture of the Alpine race in the southern provinces, where the Swedes descend from Danes who were forced to speak Swedish and accept Swedish culture after being annexed by Sweden in 1658. The Nordic race is most pure in the provinces around the Vättern Lake (Värmland, Örebrolän, Skaraborgslän, Jönköpingslän, and Kronobärgslän), and then in Härjedal, Jämtland, and Dalarna[vi].
Symbol of the tribe of Asher: a covered Cup or Goblet
(From W.H. Bennett: Symbols of Our Celto-Saxon Heritage (1976), p. 28)
Before his death, Jacob told his sons what should befall them in the last days: “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” (Genesis 49:20)
An un-authorized translation renders the verse: “Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.” (Genesis 49:20, New International Version)
In “the last days” – in which we live today – Asher will truly be a blessing.
Before his death, Moses blessed the tribes of Israel. His blessing to Asher read: “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” (Deuteronomy 33:24-25)
In an un-authorized translation, the verses read: “About Asher he said: ‘Most blessed of sons is Asher; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him bathe his feet in oil. The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days.’” (Deuteronomy 33:24-25, NIV) (Here this un-authorized translation is to be preferred to the AKJV.)
Asher would thus be a tribe that most would like, and few would be able to dislike!
The latter part of the blessing (verse 25) indicates that Asher would be militarily strong, especially concerning his defense, as it speaks about “the bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze”.
Until the Reformation, Denmark was the leading nation of the three major Nordic nations, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In 1397 Denmark-Norway and Sweden were joined in the Kalmar Union under Queen Margrethe I of Denmark. The Swedes were not happy about being in the union, and revolted several times against the Danish-led rule. After Christian II king of Denmark in 1520 had beheaded 80-90 Swedish noblemen and clergymen in the “Stockholm Bloodbath”, Gustav Vasa (1496-1560) drove out the Danes in 1523, and Sweden finally achieved independence, and Gustav Vasa became king under the name Gustav I Vasa.
“The Lion of the North”, Gustav II Adolf king of Sweden.
(From Gyldendals Verdenshistorie III Bind (1937), p. 181)
In 1621 king Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) created Europe’s most modern army by the use of conscription for the peasants. The Thirty Years War 1618-1648 in Germany was between Protestant nations and Catholic nations. After Christian IV king of Denmark had been defeated by the Catholic leader Wallenstein and in 1629 promised to refrain from getting involved in German affairs again, Gustav II Adolf king of Sweden in 1630 landed with his army in north Germany, and crushed the Imperial Catholic armies one after one to such an extent that he became the champion of the Protestant armies and became known as “the Lion of the North”.
While Gustav II Adolf crushed the Imperial Catholic armies and liberated territories both in north Germany and south Germany, the German states that were either dependent upon Sweden or allied with Sweden roughly corresponded to the later states Prussia and the German Democratic Republic (DDR). These German territories are the tribe of Gad, Asher’s only full brother.
Since 1658, when Sweden annexed the all-Danish provinces of Scania, Halland, and Blekinge on the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, Sweden has been the leading Nordic nation.
“The Warrior King”, Charles XII king of Sweden.
(Engraving after contemporary portrait by David Krafft. From Gyldendals Verdenshistorie III Bind (1937), p. 403)
Charles XII (in Swedish: Karl XII) (1682-1718) king of Sweden is called “the Warrior King” due to his feats in the Great Northern War 1700-1721. After Russia, Saxony-Poland-Lithuania, and Denmark-Norway had entered an alliance against Sweden, Charles XII accomplished – much like Napoleon and Hitler after him – first to defeat the Russian army at Narva in 1700, then invade Poland, and finally in 1708 launching an invasion of Russia attempting to conquer Moscow. Charles XII’s army was reduced considerably because of the Russian winter, epidemics, and Russian attacks, and the Swedish army was finally routed by the Russians at Poltava in the Ukraine in 1709. Charles XII then fled to Turkey, where he convinced the Turks to declare war on Russia, and returned to Sweden to continue the war until he died in battle in 1718.
SAAB Gripen of the Swedish Air Force
(Copyright Gripen International. Photograph by Jonas Tillgren.)
Sweden is the only of the Nordic nations to have a sizeable military hardware production of its own.
The SAAB factories are known both for their medium-size quality cars and their warplanes. The newer SAAB Gripen is used by the Swedish, South African, Czech, and Hungarian air forces. The older SAAB Draken was used by the Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Austrian air forces.
The 350 years old Bofors factories are known for their 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns. Today the Bofors heavy weapons division is owned by an American firm, while the missile division is owned by SAAB.
An example of Sweden being a giant fortress in fulfillment of “The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days” (Deuteronomy 33:25, NIV) can be seen in the fact that many of Sweden’s rural roads are completely straight and quite broad for very long distances. This is in order that the SAAB warplanes can use the Swedish roads as landing strips in case of war.
It is widely believed that the word Viking is derived from the Nordic word ”vik/vig” (“vik” in Swedish and Norwegian, ”vig” in Danish), which means ”inlet, creek”, because the Vikings sailed out from the inlets and fjords.
In the Song of Deborah in the book of Judges, it is written of how the tribes of Dan and Asher did not fight along with the other tribes: ”and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.” (Judges 5:17, my underlining)
The word rendered ”breaches” in the Authorised KJV is translated from the Hebrew ”miphrâts” (Strong’s no. 4664), meaning ”a break (in the shore), i.e. a haven”. In un-authorised English translations, the word is also rendered ”bays, creeks”, etc.
A breach and a break in the shore would have much of the same meaning as an inlet, which is called “vik/vig” in Nordic languages.
The word ”vik” (plural) is thus used in the Swedish Authorized Version (authorized by Gustav V king of Sweden) of 1917: ”Och Dan – varför dröjer han ännu vid skeppen? Aser satt kvar vid havets strand, vid sina vikar stannade han.” (Judges 5:17, my underlining)
The word ”vig” (plural) is also used in the Danish Authorized Version (authorized by Christian X king of Denmark) of 1931: ”Dan, hvi søgte han fremmed hyre? Aser sad stille ved havets strand; han blev ved sine vige.” (Judges 5:17, my underlining)
There can thus be found Israelite ”Vikings” in the book of Judges.
The tribe of Asher’s territorial inheritance was in the north-east of the Israelite part of Canaan, bordering the half tribe of Manasseh in Canaan, Zebulun, Naphtali, the Phænicians, and the Mediteranean Sea. Asher’s territory is recorded in Joshua 19:24-31.
There were four tribes of Israel which had an inheritance with coasts along the Mediteranean. Of the coasts of these four tribes, Asher’s coast was the only with several bays and inlets, which would correspond to the meaning of the word “Viking”, since “Viking” means “those from the inlet [vik]”.
There were several parts of Asher’s territory where the Asherites did not drive out the Canaanites, as is recorded in Judges 1:31-32. It was to such an extent that the Scripture records that “the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites” (Judges 1:32), which seems to indicate that there were at least as many Canaanites as Asherites.
This is fulfilled in the large number of coloured immigrants in Sweden.
The context in which the judge Deborah sang ”Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches” was that the majority of the northern tribes of Israel – the House of Israel - were fighting a war together. That Asher here did not participate when most of the other northern tribes of Israel did, could suggest a tendency to stay neutral in conflicts.
Sweden is, besides Switzerland, the country of Israelite descent which has stayed neutral for the longest time, since 1814. Sweden is not a member of NATO, and only in 1995 did Sweden become a member of the European Union, where the nation has retained its own currency, the Swedish krona.
When the 12 tribes of Israel are regathered in Canaan, the tribe of Asher will be the second to receive its inheritance, with Dan being the first. Asher’s territorial inheritance will be the second-most northern one, as it is recorded in Ezekiel 48:2-3.
In the New Jerusalem, Asher’s gate will share corner of the world with Gad and Naphtali, two of the other tribes of the sons of the concubines, as it is recorded in Ezekiel 48:34.
October 2008
Bibles:
Where nothing else is noted the Authorized King James Version is used.
The Authorized Swedish translation of 1917
The Authorized Danish translation of the Old Testament of 1931
The Holy Bible, New International Version (Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 1973)
Other books:
W.H. Bennett: Symbols of Our Celto-Saxon Heritage (Canadian British-Israel Association: Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 1976)
Hans F.K. Günther: The Racial Elements of European History (Methuen and Co.: London, UK, 1927) found on http://www.white-history.com/earlson/hfk/reoehcover.htm
Gyldendals Verdenshistorie III Bind (Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag: Copenhagen, Denmark, 1937)
Newspaper articles:
Orla Borg: DF ønsker bedre statistik over unge indvandrere (article in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, 29 September, 2008, Indland, p. 3)
Store genetiske forskelle på finner (article in Berlingske Tidende, 20 October, 2008) found on http://www.berlingske.dk/article/20081024/verden/810240312/
Internet articles:
http://dansk-svensk.blogspot.com/2006/02/rose-is-rose-is-rose-is.html
Sybille Hildebrandt: Genetisk Europakort: Finner og italienere er outsidere (2008) found on http://www.videnskab.dk/composite-986.htm
[i] http://dansk-svensk.blogspot.com/2006/02/rose-is-rose-is-rose-is.html
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[ii] Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, 28 September, 2008.
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[iii] Sybille Hildebrandt: Genetisk Europakort: Finner og italienere er outsidere (2008)
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[iv] Berlingske Tidende, 20 October, 2008
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[v] Sybille Hildebrandt.
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[vi] Hans F.K. Günther: The Racial Elements of European History (1927), Chapter VI Part Three
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